In the Hebrew language the word “hear” means that you “do” what you have heard. You haven’t heard if you haven’t done or responded to that which was spoken to you (Mark 12:29). This means that to love God is a choice on our part—when we love God, we fulfill the Greatest Commandment. This means putting God first and foremost in our hearts and everything we do. When we do, there is a natural outflow into loving others, our neighbors as we love ourselves. Do you know anyone today who loves God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength? How about you? Are you willing to let God do in your life what will make you into the kind of person who does that?

God often allows pain in our lives to create the gap for Him to fill that space with His love. As we experience more of His love for us, we also need to ask ourselves what may be preventing us from loving God with all our hearts. Get rid of everything that is not honoring to God in your life. Get into your life what will help you get to know Jesus more especially reading and applying God’s Word, the Bible. One important command in the Bible that we need to obey is to forgive everyone that we haven’t yet (Matthew 6:12-13). The flow of God’s power in our lives through the Holy Spirit will be blocked by our unforgiveness, and we can’t experience God’s movement in our lives. The power of the cross is the ability to go to God every day, confess our sins and be cleansed from all unrighteousness in a moment. But when someone sins against us, we want them to work their way back to our forgiveness! Because we have been lavishly forgiven by God, we are admonished to forgive others—especially those closest to us, who hurt us the most. We may also need to ask for forgiveness if we have done hurtful things to them.

God wants to get a hold of you in such a way that He can use you to make a way for others to get to know Him. It’s never just about you; every move of God in your life is in order for Him to be able to move through you so that others may experience His grace as well. The disciples in the early church experienced miracles and everyone was in awe (Acts 2:42-43). God’s mighty work continues in our time when we go on mission with Him, letting Him work through us in the people around us. God is drawn in holy community—when we gather to study His word, pray and fellowship with one another in His name. His presence is there, and people are changed by the grace of God!

However, we are not to just stay together with other believers in our comfort zones. We have been given the Great Commission by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20. We are to “make disciples of all the nations”. This is a corporate call — when we do this together, God’s glory will be revealed in all the nations. Jesus also promised that He will be with us until the end of the age. Being on mission with God means we do our part in reaching those “nations” or groups of people who have never had the chance to hear about Jesus. There are those that God has called to go to distant tribes who still need to hear the gospel. Even today, we hear of miracles (e.g., healing, vision/dreams of Jesus) witnessed by those who previously have never heard about Jesus, before missionaries arrived to tell them about the Savior.

But most of us are called to make disciples where we are; in fact, a large number of Filipinos work overseas and have the unique opportunity to share Christ to many nations! We can all take part in fulfilling the promise of Jesus that the gospel will be preached in the whole world before He comes back (Matthew 24:14). It seems that when the whole world has heard the gospel, then the right environment is there for Jesus to come again.

Even in the hardest places to reach, we can trust that Jesus goes ahead to prepare the lost to hear about Him from those that He sends on mission in those nations. But what if He tells you to go, but you ignore that call, refusing to obey His command? People will die without ever hearing about Jesus.

The most important thing about hearing a message, such as this one on why God’s mission is our mission, is our response to it. Ask yourself: what is God telling me to do about being on mission with Him in making disciples of all the nations? Is there any one nation that God has placed in my heart that I need to start praying for today? This Missions Month, do your part to either continue being on mission with God, or start being on mission with Jesus in what He wants to accomplish in your life and through your life for all the nations to see the glory of God!